The Beast Inside
by petitehero
Summary: Buffy is feeling stretched to pieces over her duties as a Slayer. Of course she's going to want a normal star-filled night every once in awhile, but for her, this wish may be her last. The beast is out, and it doesn't want to be put back in the cage.
1. Ashes and Stars

**Author's Note: Sadly I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any associated characters and such. I only own a few words. Please bear with me, this is my first Buffy fic. So some people may be a tad out of character.**

Darkness haloed a smudgy moon in the half-circuit sky. The ground under my sturdy hiking boots felt moist with natural waste and decay. The stake in my right hand was a comforting and familiar weight. The snarling vampire in front of me, not so welcome.

"Can we get to the scuffling, witty banter on my part, and eventual slayage? Because the growl-y, threat-y look? So not turning me on." I dug my feet into the slippery terrain, preparing to slice through Sir Nightly like a piece of vampire-flavored cake.

Predictably, the vampire charged, eyes ablazing with all that horribly contained vamp rage. He came at me full throttle, aiming to knock me down through sheer brute force. Which would have worked on any normal seventeen-year-old girl who's biggest lurking shadow in life was passing the SATs. That being said, hello? What normal seventeen-year-old girl would be egging on a snarky-faced vampire that came with the free shipment of a naturally murderous disposition? Not a completely sane one. My biggest lurking shadow? The world ending on my watch. So not even allowing comparison. I drop-rolled out of the vamp's way in time for him to smack face-first into a newly painted swing set. He leapt to his feet, smoothing over an obviously snapped fang.

"Now I am sorry for that one." I apologized-and not for the vampire's apparent pain. "Gotta be hard for a guy to get a good dental plan that covers a face full of fang and a bad attitude." I edged my way towards the see saw, resting one leg on the bridge.

A fresh growl from Fangless and he came at me in a furious rush. Gravity seemed to short-circuit as I bursted off the see saw, into a stable flip, and landed on questionably solid ground behind the vamp.

"The scuffling got old awhile back and you're not really worth the witty banter. Time's up. Encore of slayage?" I asked, pinning the angry thing against the side of the play structure with a finely carved stake. The beast let out a disbelieving roar as its eyes widened and hands grasped pointlessly at the wood protruding from its ravaged chest. Then it was a bucket's worth of ash. I wiped my hands along the torn denim jeans I was wearing, not wanting icky smoked vamp bits and pieces to get under my fingernails. 'Cause, really? Ew.

The watch on my wrist told me it was only nine-twenty-three, a perfect time for Bronzin' with Will and Xander. I looked down at myself and saw the full extent of damage the vampire did to my outfit. Okay, maybe not quite the perfect time for Bronzin'. Insert a really unhappy, dance-deprived teenage sigh here. I bent over to pick up the stake that had fallen after the vamp went from undead to dead-dead.

"Okay, call to Willow then Buffy to bed." I sighed once more as I dug around in my knitted jacket's pocket. Frustrated, my fingers found my cell phone hiding in the deepest part of the pocket. I selected Will's speed dial and seated myself on one of the crooked swings. One…two….three…four….five rings before a breathless Willow came up on the other end of the line.

"Willow reporting for duty!" She sounded all excited and young and energetic where I felt like tired, stuffy old Buffy. "Are you heading over?"

"Sorry, but you're gonna have to check off the rain box today, Will." I apologized through a yawn. "Vampire decided to make the last dance a little early."

"Oh, well, that's ok then, I mean that sucks and all-um, no pun intended, it's just cool you know? In a not cool sort of way. Not that you're not cool-just Slayer; sleep needed. Gotcha." Willow stumbled over her words in that kinda nervous way she always talked.

"Thanks. And sorry again." I rested my head against one of the chains holding the swing up, fighting off a wave of exhaustion. I wasn't used to being so tired after a slaying, but things had definitely picked up in the vamp department. "Tomorrow night?"

"Definitely. Now-I order you to rest, Slayer Girl." Willow said in a command-y voice.

"Yes ma'am." I replied dutifully. "Private Buffy out."

"Ok, bye Buff!" Willow chirped before hanging up.

I listened to the dial tone as I closed my eyes, feeling nothing but the cold of the metal against my face. Which, really, was all I wanted at that point. To just sit there for the rest of the night under the stars and not have to get up and _do_ things. Unlucky for lazy Buffy, she _always _had things to do. I groaned in frustration before finally dragging myself up in a sitting position. Checking that my cell phone was securely in my pocket and that my stake was securely not in sight, I trudged across the moonlit park and headed towards my house. Tomorrow was going to be a rough day.

**The next chapter will be better (for the plot narwhal has decreed it so) :) Let's get through this to the exciting parts, yes?**


	2. Tights and Teardrops

**Me: I own nothing! Promises!**

**Ghost of Disclaimers Past: That's right, little girl. You own nothing~! Mwahaha! **

**(Which includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all things Batman-related for those of you who don't speak Ghost ^u^.)**

Sun striking relentlessly through a somewhat dirty window woke me. That, and a ridiculously obnoxious alarm clock blaring mere inches from my face. I scrambled from under my covers, flailing like a tranquilized wombat to reach the shut-off button on the alarm. To my great annoyance, that very button happened to be the farthest away. My fingertips trickled along the alarm's sharp, crudely put together frame and caught, sending the thing to floor-wailing like a banshee- and dragging half of the contents on top of my bedside table with it.

"Bad alarm clock! Bad, bad little alarm clock!" I groaned, burying my face in my pillow, using 6:00 a.m. logic to come to the conclusion that near suffocation would inflict horrible amounts of pain and possible implosion upon my alarm clock. Unfortunately, the world didn't feel the need to indulge in what a certain Buffy Summers wanted so I rolled out of bed- literally- and became the cherry on top of the Friday Morning Sundae I'd created on the floor.

"Buffy, what in the world is going on up there?" My mom's voice resounded off the walls in what seemed like a monstrously loud echo this early in the morning.

"Nothing!" I replied groggily. "I'm just trying to forever silence this evil little hunk of plastic!" I picked myself up to my knees, blearily reaching out for the alarm clock that was all tangled around the knobs of my bedside table. Apparently, however, at 6:00 a.m. I was no match for it. I caught my fingers around the dangly black cord and pulled, successfully pulling the whole thing out of the wall and smacking the back of my head across the floor. A mangled curse burst passed my lips before I could contain it.

"How is it that I can save the world a hundred times over, defeat a range of incredibly wiggins-worthy demons time and time again, but throw an alarm clock my way and the Slayer is bested?" I grumbled to myself, pushing aside the wreckage that littered the floor and leaving it to be dealt with later.

"Buffy, are you out of bed? Don't make me come up there and throw water on you or something!" I would have thrown a sarcastic reply back at her, but the sound of my mom's voice drawing ever closer to the stairs shook me out of my morning fog.

"Okay, okay." I looked around my room, searching for clothes in a state that could stretch to be classified as clean. I found a worn pair of blue jeans and pulled them on, then hunted through my closet for a long-sleeved black tee. A few moments of desperate drawer-rustling and I collapsed on my bed. "Here, shoes!" I whistled, peering under my bed. "Here, boys! I'll feed you a nice pair of socks if you come out from wherever you are-!" I sang.

My hand hit a scuffed pair of black ankle boots, which I tugged on gratefully. "Good little boots. Enjoy your socks." I commented absent-mindedly, rushing breathlessly to the bathroom so I could pull a brush through that which is called my hair (it really must be identified before seeing it, because on sight this early it resembled more closely something either previously slayed or hit by a minibus). I brushed my teeth, threw on some fruity lip balm, and rocketed down the stairs.

"Buffy? Is that you? Moving _fast_? Is the house on fire or something?' My mom called out from the kitchen, alternating between idly (and faintly amusedly) watching me dash past and sipping coffee from a ceramic mug that had _Honorary Morning Person_ in block letters on the front.

"Not this time." I called back, picking up my bag and slinging it over my shoulder. "Just a case of chronic late-ness."

I opened the front door and let it swing shut behind me, throwing a breathless "Bye!" towards my mom.

Willow and Xander were waiting for me on our usual bench outside the front doors of the school. As soon as I was a few feet away, the Buffy Radar kicked in and Willow looked up at me from underneath a knit purple hat and grinned.

" 'Morning Buff!" She looked all sparkly and awake, with a bright smile and flushed cheeks as she waved happily. A species more worthy of fear than any demon known to man; morning people. However, this morning person was my best friend, so of course she got the Buffy Summers nod.

"Morning Will." I mustered up as much early morning cheer as possible and drove it into a return smile for Willow.

Xander then glanced up from whatever comic book he had been focusing on- intently, I might add, which is noteworthy when it comes to Xander and reading- and did his own little bow.

"And the Buffster joins us as we await entrance into that which is a fun-sized living hell; I give you Sunnydale High."

I managed a half-smile for that one, then smiled wider as I contemplated the truth in his words. Most kids complain that going to school is akin to heck, but what most kids don't have up against them is an actual Hellmouth under their school. I guess that counts as bragging rights for me, Willow, and Xander. Not that any sane person would believe us.

"So, how was the dancing and the singing and the Bronzing?" I asked, curious.

"Oh, you know. Bodies moving to music, words out of mouths, being at a club." Willow replied modestly, acting like the night wasn't anything big.

"What are you talking about?" Xander asked, eyes wide. "That was the best Bodies Moving to Music, Words Out of Mouths, Being at a Club Night ever! They got in a new band, Rhinos Killed the Music, which sounded way better than it sounds. There was practically no music slayage there at all."

A little wave of jealously ducked through me, but then fell flat. I shouldn't be jealous over one night missed at the Bronze. Though I could've gone if I wasn't up to the moon killing evil vampires. Willow gave Xander a _look _and punched him on the arm. He made a surprised, irritated noise and rubbed his arm as Willow spoke.

"It wasn't all that great." Willow insisted.

"Really, Will, it's okay for you guys to have fun without me." I promised, because it was true.

"Well, it was fun, but it wasn't, y'know-Fun. With a capital F. Or anything. Without you and all. It was like-um, oh I know!" Willow's eyes lit up and she bounced in her seat. "It was like Batman! Without Robin! We could stop the Joker, but it just wasn't the same without you and your brightly colored tights and courageously styled hair!"

Xander and I exchanged some very pointed, sanity-questioning looks.

"Oh, come on. Everyone loves Robin's courageously styled hair. That boy has _bravado._"

"Willow, it's way too early to confuse us with big words." Xander put in, tugging his backpack onto one shoulder.

"But thanks anyway. For the compliment. Wait. _Was_ that a compliment?" I asked, shoving a hand through my hair and smoothing down the result.

"Of course. It means she likes your hair and thinks you look fine in tights." Xander said before Willow could open her mouth to answer. She proceeded to smack him, hard, in the same spot as before, which earned Xander a little cringe. Apparently morning people have fists of steel.

"Anyways, how was the slaying, Buffy?"

"Oh you know, he got with the growling, I got with the plunging-a-thick-piece-of-wood-through-his-heart-and-making-him-cry-eternal-screams-of-pain. –Ing." I said nonchalantly.

Willow widened her eyes a bit and shaped her mouth into a little 'o' while Xander let out a low whistle. "Points for the girl with the wood and the fancy hair!"

Just then, a piercing, sickeningly cheerful noise rang over the lawn and struck fear in the hearts of Sunnydale youth. The school bell. All three of us sighed a little- and I could've sworn every other kid out there did the same all at once. As everyone filed in on slow, trudging feet, me, Will, and Xander hung back by the bench.

"So, the Bronze? Tonight?" Willow asked me.

"Sure thing." I replied, looking around at the fading students.

"Hey, losers!" A voice that generally grated on my nerves called out from near the school's entrance. "The bell generally means to go_ towards_ the school, not stand around in front of it looking lost."

"And it stood there as babies cried when they heard its name, for the Cordelia was about." Willow muttered. I tried not to grin too much.

"Oh, you charmer, you, how could I have ever let you out of my grasp?" Xander called back to Cordy on the steps, heavy on the sarcasm, though I was sure he meant that less than he let on.

Cordelia tossed a cascade of long, perfect hair over her shoulder and slinked into the school wearing her pride on her sleeve, because obviously the heart was unavailable.

And so the smiles and laughter of the Time Before the Bell ended abruptly, brought on by that which was School.

**Lalala...okay so let's hope that was good =) For I am operating on sleep deprivation and a very strong need for a mango smoothie. **


End file.
